gm, chrysler were all on the brink of failure. and if they failed, the suppliers and distributors that get their business from those companies, they would have died off, too. even ford could have gone down -- production halted. factories shuttered. once proud companies chopped up and sold off for scraps. and all of you -- the men and women who built these companies with your own hands -- would have been hung out to dry. and everybody in this community that depends on you -- restaurant owners, storekeepers, bartenders -- their livelihoods would have been at stake, too. so i wasn't about to let that happen. i placed my bet on american workers. we bet on american ingenuity. i'd make that same bet any day of the week. [applause] three and a half years later, that bet is paying off. this industry has added over a quarter of a million new jobs. assembly lines are humming again. the american auto industry is back. and companies like daimler know you're still a smart bet. they could have made their investment somewhere else, but they didn